| Show BURNING OIL OL TRAINS Bit of History of the Early Day Shipments t RAINS DRAINS OF FIFTY OARS CARS I REMINISCENT DRILLER DWELLS ON RAILROAD DANGERS Los Angeles Herald Say said a driller yesterday as a he stood in a derrick mechanically turning 1 the temper screw Involuntarily keep Ing ng time with the chug chug of the te drill dri you people out here in California never saw a train of oil 01 cars on fire fre did you The Herald Berald Herld man confessed that very ver few oil oi trains trins had been heen con consumed in this state at least in recent years i Well Wel sir it is a i sight of a a life lifetime time You Tou know in In the early days of the he oil 01 business in the east before Henry Henr Harleys idea of building p pipe pe lines ines became general they carried all al their oil al in tank cars c careon on the railroads A train of forty or oro fifty of these cars was vas wt no uncommon sight in hi those days You know Inow that eastern stuff is most awfully inflammable A spark was wa all al that would be required to start a a fire fre hat well I dont know khow kow anything about hell hel only reading rading about it i and nd hearing ministers minister talk about about it i it itis is half halfa as a hot hota as a burning oil 01 train tram excuse me ne I dont want to get any nearer to tot i It t than necessary Most 1 ost of the oil Di was vas wa shipped down dow along alo g the th Alle Ale Valley Valey railroad I dont know kno how low many man millions of dollars dolar It cost that hat company compan for tryIng tr ng to carry carr oil 01 oilin in n cars car With all al the care car it I was pos possible possible possible sible to exercise those trains would get geton geton geton on fire fre once in a while and the way money went up in smoke was a plenty Nothing would be left lef but a twisted lot lotof lotof lotof I of iron and rails ris Many lIany a time too the ashes of a brakeman or two might I Ibe be mixed up with wih what was wa left left You Tou I Isee see it take all al day dav to burn an anoil anoil I IolJ oil train trin and it didn take long 10 ng to set seton one on fire fre There was so much gas in the oil al you know now that the minute gs a fre fire started stated the whole train trIn would burst into a flame fame It I was wa surprising I almost like a lightning stroke and of i course coure it i was wa generally all al off of with the brakemen They really realy have time to jump and ad if i they did they the were Just as likely as not to jump into a I pool of burning oil 01 The tank tak cars would explode and throw burning buring oil oi all al over the neighborhood It I was something fierce Ill Il state I remember remember ber her of an oil 01 train trIn catching on fire fre near Bully Buly Hill Hi down the river aboUt abo t eight miles mies from Franklin Frankln At the time I Iwas Iwa Iwas was wa up on the hill hl feet above the track and it is a fact that the flames fames from that fire fre leaped leaDed in into o the air al at almost almost most as a high as that hill hl It I was wa W a magnificent sight sight Volumes of smoke black as midnight rolled up and near nearly nearly nearly ly hid the sun from view There were some funny freaks performed by these th tank cars car too sometimes One night nighta a train got on fire fre near Oil Oi City Cl and andas andas andas as one tank after another exploded ed it i sounded like that artillery artier duel at the battle batte of Gettysburg Get No I want in inthe inte inthe the te battle hatie but I was plenty plent near enough up In Canada working in a lumber camp Wel Well the noise was wa ter terrific rifle anyway All AU at once as a one of the tanks tank let go g we were left lef in total darkness darkess and there was wa not a a sign of a blaze blae anywhere just a lot of smoldering ruins The force of the te ex cx explosion the concussion concus had put out the fire fre and no joke either It Itis I Itis is 15 a fact I saw sass it myself But speaking of burning buring trains that fire fre near Bradford on the Bradford Bordell Bordel Kinzua narrow gauge road which winds around the mountains mountair there was the worst I ever knew about about It I was in the winter of 1881 At that time Bradford was wa the business center c ter teras as it is now nos no of a lot of little towns town townsand and the trains trIns coming into Bradford were always filled fled wih with people on on their way to market maket you know All Al along the line lne of of this little railroad are hun hundreds hundreds hundreds of oil 01 wells wels It I seems that some someone someone one In running oil al from one of the tanks tank one day had forgotten to plug it properly and the oil 01 escaped and ran down the hill hi to the railroad anI track which formed for the oil oi a nice bed and it i simply ran rn along between the rails rais soaking the snow and actually ac making a little river of oil 01 almost p mile mie in length lengh You know kow what that f would mean if a 3 spark touched it it eUl it i touched it I all aU right A passenger train trin filled fled with people came along and the minute the fire fr box of the locomotive locomotive tive came near that gas g 55 there was a river of fire fre about a mile mie in length stretching ahead of the train trin through which it I had to plunge There Then is a man here in Los Angeles who was on the train trin His name nante is John Burke and the stOry he would tell tel you would make your our hair hall stand stan on end or singe it I off of rather r ther There was a hot old time around there for awhile and no mis mistake mistake take tae He says the minute the te locomotive locomotive i tive struck the spot where the oil 01 was wa I the entire entre train was enveloped within I walls wals of fire fre Every Ever pane pae of glass glas in inthe Inthe i the car was broken from the heat in inan inan I Ian an instant and every ever man woman and childs fate in that car seemed to 10 be I sealed seated And it I was as sealed for sixteen of them for they perished like lRe rats ts in ina Ina Ina a trap The engineer stood to his post like a hero her but bitt of course coure the tle instinct of was wa in him the same as a in every ever other man and he jumped not however until he w was s so terribly burned that he died from the effects of it a short time after When he ret let go they the th throttle stem to jump the entire inside of his hand was left lefton lefton on on the stem He e was a ua t l ont dont d do him lim any an good god now Burke I was w as the real hero of the event and lives li ves to tell tel about ab t it iL Through his help many may m mS mt any in the car where he was wa were saved aved sved S mg He had his sister and a little girl g irl in his care and when he saw sass sw what was t as up he covered both their heads with w wt ith shawls and cloaks cloak and threw them hem t both out of a a window He said the he t train at this time must have been ben tg tA going g at least eighty miles mies an hour After A fter doing what he could to assist other ther o women omen in the car all al of whom were vore s ere crazed with fright he was forced to t o jump for his own life The heavy snow now snoW s on on the ground was what saved syed the lives ives l of those tose who did escape through the he t windows Burke told me that after he h hf e jumped the train trIn did not run very veo far f ar before it i came to a sharp curve and andover a nd over it i went into a burning mass When Ven he arrived at alt al the spot through the he t windows of the car cr protruded the charred harred c ca harred and nd contorted bodies of men and a nd women omen who had struggled to free fre t themselves from the death trap and c It I was a terrible affair Be Before Before fore f ore help could arrive arrhe from the thO city nothing n remained but a heap of or twisted Iron I It ron the bodies of a number of the vic vie victims tims ims t having been almost entirely con consumed consumed umed s Not a person on the train es escaped e aped c entirely with possibly the ion tion ton t of Burkes Burkes sister and the little girl Many of them still carry car the scars they t In that awful experience All Al that is 15 oil oi country countr history and let l me state that I much prefer hand ling brig and working around round this Califor California nia ala oil oi It I so dangerous Wy Why you can throw a lighted match into a tank ank t of pf some of the best oil oi in this field feld and it will wi drown the fire fre out out Yes California is the place for me I like it I i t here and am going to stay sty The driller drier while relating the above scrap of history had run rn out a full ful screw and was ready to gelt get the sand pump to work and he was nas left to con continue his task |
